


Children of Kaine: Holiday Special

by KPenDragon



Series: Children of Kaine Saga [6]
Category: Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Family Drama, Gen, Holiday Special, M/M, Mpreg, Other, Teenage Pregnancy, clone siblings, combined families, even divergent from the story's canon, intersex clone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 13:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8716357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KPenDragon/pseuds/KPenDragon
Summary: It's the night of the big family dinner May has been planning with Rio for a while, so all of the Spider kids are hard at work. but when Flash gets an emergency text from his sister, he and Ben go off for the day and all sorts of drama unfolds.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> SURPRISE! Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy this holiday special. It's very far displaced from the current time in CoK, because I wanted to try my hand at some fluff and angst/dramas, as well as try to flesh out the slayers' a little bit too. This has not been betaed, so please forgive any very glaring errors. Oh, and before you begin, a quick little cheat sheet for those who do not follow my tumblr; the Slayers look like [this](http://theinsanecrayonbox.tumblr.com/post/151906334487/now-that-weve-met-and-i-liked-the-clones-time-to) out of their suits and are named as followed:  
> -Bones Spider = Spike  
> -Ghost Spider = Neil  
> -Goliath Spider = David  
> While Scarlet Widow/Jay is basically an OCed version of Ultimate Comics Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew (she'll make more sense once you get to her in the main plot I promise)

The holiday season was on in full swing at the Parker house. May had always been fond of the season; all that good will was like catnip to her. And having the house full of teenagers again (not that it wasn't these days it seemed) just made it all the better. A few inches of snow had fallen the night before, so David and Neil were already outside shoveling the drive and walk ways, while May had conscripted Spike into her baking operation for the moment. Jay had escaped early with Peter, off on whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. required. This left Ben in what had slowly become his favorite place; in bed, in Flash’s arms. The blonde still technically wasn't living in the house anymore, but you'd never know that by the amount of time he spent there. And as long as the pair promised not to do anything (despite the fact that they really couldn't get into anymore trouble), he was allowed to sleep over in his boyfriend's room when he did stay. That was a fact that Ben enjoyed very much so.

The brunette shifted slightly, not realizing he's fallen back asleep. Still with a touch of sleep, he looked up to find the blonde mostly sitting back, flipping through his phone with the hand not snaked around his body to hold him close. He peeled himself out from under the knitted afghan a bit, earning the other's attention.

"Well hey there babe," he clicked his phone off and slipped it onto the dresser within arm's length.

"Mmm don't call me babe," he mumbled the usual comment, trying to sit up more comfortably, despite knowing that would be near impossible at this point with his 6 month pregnant belly. "How long I been out?"

"Meh, bout an hour," Flash stretched his now freed arm a little, trying to get the feeling back into it.

"And you let me fall back asleep why?"

"You seemed tired," he didn't wince as his elbow cracked from the stiffness, "And so cute when you sleep too."

Ben just rolled his eyes at that, but still settled back in close as he felt Flash's hand rub his shoulder now, encouraging him to snuggle back up.

"Plus it was a perfect excuse to get out of snow shoveling."

Ben snorted, "There it is. You don't love me; you just want to avoid manual labor."

"Yup, read me like a book."

Ben just shook his head at that, but a smile played on his lips as he felt the blonde kiss the top of his head. This was...nice, them being a couple it was nice. Never would he have thought this would happen, yet here they were, and it was really nice. Ben Reilly had a family-a real family, a real life, real love. He was still a screw up (as Jessica would point out), but he was starting to be happy with how things were.

"So how you feeling?"

He rolled his eyes at the all too familiar (and annoying) question. "I'm 6 months pregnant, how do you think I'm feeling?"

"Same?"

"Yeah, obviously."

After another beat though, Ben moved to get up. Flash reluctantly let him go, and held back from offering him help getting up (knowing pretty much by now when that was a bad idea).

"Something I said?"

"Something you did," he huffed, finally untangling from the afghan and standing on the floor with an uncomfortable stretch, "Your child likes to sit on my bladder."

Flash just chuckled at that, resettling back as he watched him go. "I'll keep your spot warm."

Ben's comment back was lost as he made it out to the hall. Flash smirked to himself, reaching back over for his phone; he really was growing to be very comfortable and happy with all of this too. If you'd told him a year or two ago that this was how his life was going to turn out, he would have thought you were nuts. But now, ever since Ben had come back into his life, he really couldn't see how things could be any other way. There had been, and still was, some major levels of adjusting to go through, but it was worth it.

His phone buzzed in his hand before he could flip it over and turn it on. The displayed message had him wide eyed and jumping out of the bed in one swift movement, and grabbing the nearest pair of pants he could find (which would be his either way, thanks to Ben stealing his clothes regularly). When the brunette came back and found the blonde doing the one foot stumbling hop trying to pull on a sneaker on the wrong foot, phone held in his mouth and a different t-shirt on backwards.

"Is Timmy stuck in the well again Lassie?"

Flash tried to answer, but only ended up falling over. How the kid had been considered a well coordinated athlete...

"Seriously," Ben came over now, offering the boy on the floor his other shoe, "What's on fire?"

"Just personal stuff," now with both shoes he figured out his mistake and got them on much quicker, "Don't worry about it."

He quirked an eyebrow at that, "Oh really now? Something "personal" has you running out of here faster than Quicksilver? Everyone already knows you got me pregnant, so I'm not sure what else would be big enough to get this type of response."

"Not everyone," he mumbled, getting up and checking his phone for any updates, "Can you just give me my jacket and tell May I'm gonna be back late."

"No."

"What?" he looked away from the phone, caught off guard by that in his semi panicking mode.

"I said no," Ben repeated easily, crossing his arms, "If it's not super villain related or a surprise party, we talk about it, remember. Because that's what couples do."

"Ok, it's a villain surprise party."

Ben shot him an unamused look for that. Flash tried to hold his ground under that glare; he used to be able to stare down 400lb linebackers and megalomaniacal super freaks, but they had nothing on the Reilly Stare.

"It's just my sister, ok," he finally gave.

"Your sister?"

"She texted me, saying Mom was sick and Dad's not around."

"Your...family?"

Flash hadn't ever talked about his family as far as Ben could remember (and he wasn't one to really talk either), so hearing this now suddenly, it took him a full moment to process everything.

Flash didn't notice his boyfriend's thoughts stalling out for the moment, so he just kept on talking, "Yeah, so I need to go head over there and make sure they're ok."

"Alright," he finally said, then moved over to go dig out a pair of pants for himself now.

"And I don't know how long that will take and…what're you doing?"

"Getting dressed," he said flatly, adding his usual blue sweatshirt, "Going with you."

"Uh, yeah, no you're not."

"You gonna stop me then?" he was pulling back his hair as he looked back to him.

"Ben, no," he really tried to put up a full hard front here, "Trust me, you don't want to go with me. It's way downtown, and it's just a quick in and out, that's it, I'm sure it's nothing."

"You just said that you didn't know how long it was going to take you."

"Ye...no?"

"Yeah, good try," he pat his chest lightly as he slipped by him, leaving the room, "We leave in 5."

"Ben, cmon!" he tried to follow fast, just barely managing to stay a half a step in front of the brunette down the stairs, "You really don't need to go, it's not a big deal."

"You know Flash, if I didn't know you better, I’d think you were ashamed to have your family meet me," he said very calmly as he reached the last step, not stepping down so to stare the blonde directly in the eye to emphasize his words now, "It's almost like you want to control me."

The blonde tried to stifle the groan at that; he knew very well he wasn't going to win any argument once the brunette pulled out that line, lest he be the one in the wrong no matter what happened.

"Can't you just believe that I'm selfish and just want to keep you all to myself and not share?" he tried vainly.

"Nice try, but no," he stepped down now and moved past him for the kitchen.

Flash groaned again, running his hand up over his face and through his hair; this was not at all anything he ever wanted to happen. Yet, he knew better than to fight with the expectant spider once he had his mind set to a specific goal, no matter the consequences.

"Morning May," Ben greeted as he slipped his way into the all too familiar kitchen, heading into the refrigerator for the grapefruit juice, as was his ritual.

The old woman paused in her dough rolling, taking a moment to try to brush the bangs out of her face with her arm (to avoid getting flour all over her face from her hands). "Good morning to you too sleeping beauty, where's your better half?"

"I'm here," Flash followed in now too, slumping into one of the stool chairs at the island counter where some other cookies were sitting cooling.

"Great, good to see you both up and dressed. We've got quite a lot of work to do today."

The blonde started to reach for one of the cooling cookies when a small blue barb, just about the size of a pencil, came stabbing down from above, nearly piercing through his reaching hand. All eyes shot up to the eastern corner of the kitchen, where but of course, Spike was sitting upside down, attached to the ceiling.

"What was that for?!"

"You don't touch the merchandise," the darker spider chided, "You don't work, you don't get."

"Oh c'mon, one's not gonna break the bank."

"Now Flash, he's got a point, though the wrong method," May stepped in before the two made the discussion escalate beyond a heated debate, "Spike, get down from there and do cut and set these on the next tray would you."

Spike got down from his perch, and very purposely and loudly cracked his shoulder as he wound his way behind and past the Symbiote host to get the dough that was all rolled out. May went to the sink to quickly wash her hands, still speaking the whole time,

"Now that you two are finally up, we can start doing some of the bigger things. I'm going to need you to help David rearrange the furniture in the living room, Flash. And you can help supervise that I suppose Ben, just don't lift anything."

"I do still have the proportional strength of a spider you know, I haven't lost that power."

"I know dear, but still."

"Yeah, I can't May, sorry."

That was a surprise to her. "Oh? Did something come up? Do Peter and Jay need you at S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"No, I just..." he caught the pointed look Ben was giving him from over the edge of his glass as he took a drink, "We, Ben and me, we got a thing to do, and I don't know when we're gonna be back."

"Thing? What sort of thing?"

"May, c'mon," Ben tried to deflect, "It's not anything S.H.I.E.L.D. related, honest."

"You tried to pull that one on me last time."

"Yeah, but this time it's the truth."

She really didn't like the sounds of whatever this vague "thing" was; she had become a little bit of a mother hen around Ben lately, sorry to say, after the dying then coming back pregnant, and then the further addition of 4 more "siblings". She just didn't want to see any of her kids get hurt, and though she might not be able to control their super hero lives, she could try to guide along the domestic ones; and having a baby fully fell under that category.

"You two have to be back by 6," she finally relented, "Miles and Rio are coming over tonight, and I believe Peter was going to try to talk Amadeus into joining us too. You know, for a whole family holiday dinner and such."

"Wait, that's tonight?"

"We'll be back," the brunette confirmed, choosing to ignore the blonde's forgetfulness, "And if we can't, that's why we have phones right?"

"And spy communicators," Flash added.

"Yeah, that too," he rolled his eyes a little, not needing the help.

"Well...alright," she knew Flash wouldn't let anything happen to Ben, that was the only certainty she had in any situation, "6 o'clock. And remember to put on a real jacket before going outside."

"Don't worry, and thanks."

Ben went to rinse his glass and set it in the sink, but before he could leave, May caught his arm, holding him back for a second,

"You also need to eat something, remember."

"Oh, right."

She handed him a couple of undecorated cookies, "You two better get something closer to real food while you're out though, understand," she specifically looked past the brunette to the blonde, "You make sure he eats."

"I always do Mrs. P."

"Ok. You boys be safe then, and remember to be back by 6!"

The last was called after the two as the headed out of the kitchen for the coat rack and the font door.

"So I guess this means more for us then," the remaining teenager tried, reaching for one of the decorated treats.

"Not on your life. Cmon, back to work, so you can help David move the furniture later."

He wasn't that enthusiastic at the idea of that chore, but the first lesson learned in the Parker house was that May's word was law, so what could he do other than obey.


	2. Part 2

There was snow throughout the whole city, which made the buses slower than usual. Typically, Flash would have just swung his way over to his old home, bypassing public transportation all together, but with Ben in tow that wasn't really an option. On the upside, the ride did give him time to think about what he was going to do.

He hadn't been back home except once since he'd become Agent Venom; at first it was because S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to make sure he wouldn't be a danger to the general populous, but once he was certified as being "in control" he just...he didn't want to go back. He did his schooling at the Academy, he lived at the Academy, and then when he got hurt, he didn't go back to his parents' to recuperate, he went to Peter's. That was his home, that was his family, not the half broken down roach infested gas station he was raised in. But Ben didn't know about any of that (well he didn't tell him, who knew what the spider actually knew about anything), and Flash had never intended to tell him. They all came from somewhere that no one talked about, just because his origin was probably the most mundane, didn't make it any less worse than anyone else's. Yet here he was running back at the first signs of trouble, and dragging down someone else into his problems...again.

"Hey," Ben's gentle nudge at his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts for a moment, "You alright?"

"Yeah, just...thinking," he reached over and pat his knee as he sat back against the bus seat, trying to straighten out his hunched forward back, "You should eat, like May said."

"Yeah, yeah, I am," he mumbled, going for one of the doughnuts they'd picked up before boarding the bus, "Though she probably wouldn't count this as food."

"You count it as food though, so that's good enough for me."

Ben rolled his eyes at the cheesy little grin Flash gave him; it was genuine and honest though, so at least for that moment whatever was bothering him wasn't as heavy a weight. The blonde squeezed his knee again affectionately, then shifted his gaze out the window, watching the streets and buildings go by.  
\---  
As usual, when the snow hits, everyone forgets how to drive. That led to faster tempers and shorter fuses, and everyone knew how bad New Yorkers were. Which also led to more traffic accidents, and less traffic moving.

"Uhg, who knew I’d miss espionage so much."

The pair of spiders swung through the skyscrapers, landing up on a rooftop. Due to traffic standing still, there wasn’t much going on down below as they patrolled, side from some civilians yelling at each other over who’s light it was. Scarlet Widow had joined the Web Warriors when the other clones had, but she had a couple months of field work on them. That's why she was allowed out on patrol like this. As she stretched a shoulder out, he went over to the ledge and looked down to the street below. After a moment she came over too, taking a peek herself.

"So, thinking some mastermind villain is going to rob...Van Dyne's?"

"What? No, I was just...looking."

"And you need to pass by a dress shop 5 times to...what, look at some red pumps?"

"They have more than just dresses and shoes in there...not that I would know."

"Uhhu."

"Jay, will you just fo..." he looked away as he was rebuking her, only to find her with arms crossed giving him a reproachful look of her own, "Ok, I got it, take your own advice."

"And they say you're not the smart one."

"They, who's they?"

"Look, if you wanna go shopping for your girlfriend its cool, I can handle patrols on my own you know."

"Not until you're S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy certified. Doesn't it suck that your HYDRA credits just didn't transfer?"

She snorted at that. "You're not nearly half as funny as you think you are Parker."

"Well what does that make you then?"

"Prettier than you."

Before he could shoot back some witty retort for that, a store alarm sounded below. The two spiders looked down, catching sight of a purple form bounding away from the very shop they had been discussing not 5 minutes earlier.

"Really, Batroc? What are the odds?"

"He's gonna look ridiculous in your pumps."

They both sent out a web line each.

"Not funny Jay."

"Pft, says you, I'm hilarious."

And they swang down in unison on that note.  
\---  
"Look, I know it's not gonna seem like much, cause it isn't," Flash had explained after they'd gotten off the bus about 2 blocks from their destination, "And yeah it's as bad as it looks."

"You do remember that I lived homeless in Hell's Kitchen after the Hellicarrier, right?"

"Yeah," because a couple weeks on the street could compare to 16 years, "I just...don't go in with any expectations."

The rest of the walk was fairly quiet; it wasn't too cold luckily, but the piles of slush on the sidewalks ate through the material of their shoes quick enough to let the real chill seep in. When Ben was led to what looked like a junkyard, well, it wasn't what he was expecting at all. Flash paused outside the open entrance in the fence; nothing had changed in the year and a half he'd been gone it seemed, the place looked the same.

"Flash?"

"Yeah," he answered the rest of the question, "This is it," he slid his hand into the other's, giving it a slight squeeze, "Cmon, follow me."

Ben let himself be led into the lot and guided towards what looked like a boarded up gas station. As they got closer though, he could see lights on inside the building, and even smelled a wood fire burning. It was clear someone was living here...that he had lived here? When they reached the main door, the blonde hesitated; a light squeeze on his hand and a small nudge at the back of his mind gave him the confidence to go through with it.

So he knocked.

It took a few moments before the door opened, but scrambling was heard inside up until that. When the door opened, Flash let go of Ben's hand, tensing ready to run out of practiced instinct. But it was a blonde girl that met them at the door, few years younger than them, with eyes that leaned closer to gray rather than blue.

"Hey Jesse," his words were dry in his throat, but he still managed to get them out.

"Flash, you actually came..."

"I said I was, can't leave you alone when Mom's sick. So...you gonna let us in or what?"

She seemed to notice the brunette now standing outside her door too. He didn't like the way she was looking him over, it actually made him tighten up his body language, shoving his hands deep into his jacket, needing to feel to make sure his middle was still protected. Flash didn't need to look to feel Ben's discomfort, he just had a sixth sense about that these days; he side stepped slightly to put himself between the girl and the boy.

"C'mon Jesse, it's cold out here."

She finally relented and moved aside to let them in. The inside wasn't much better than the outside would suggest it to be, but it was clearly lived in and well kept. There were two couches in different states of disrepair, a wood stove in a corner that was in full working order, while an older television was in another, no doubt near a working outlet. A plyboard wall was set up down the middle of the building, a curtain acting as a door.

As they came on and the door shut, an older woman came through the curtain.

"Eugene," her voice had a smoker's crack to it, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at your votech school?"

"It's good to see you too Mom," he moved to embrace her, "You look pretty good, all things considered," as he pulled away he shot his sister a hard look.

"All things? What do you mean..." then she spotted the brunette in her home, "Hello, and who's your friend here?"

"Ah, Ben, Ben Reilly," he offered his hand to the older woman.

"Well ain't he polite," she chuckled (though it sounded more like a cough) as she shook his hand, "You must be a friend from that fancy scholarship school, hu?"

"Um, yeah, school..." he tried to pick his words carefully, eyes flickering to Flash for any sort of cues.

"No Mom, Ben's my boyfriend."

At that she sort of immediately let go of his hand and took a half step. Ben and Jesse also were shocked that he just blurted that out, for vastly different reasons. Flash just shrugged it off, taking a half step back towards the brunette.

"So what's going on here?"

"I, I don't know what you mean Eugene," his mother focused on him now, "You're the one that came here."

"Because Jesse told me you were sick."

All eyes went to the girl now.

"What's this all about now Jesse?"

"Mom, I," she tried to look for a quick out, "You were saying the other day how he never called home. I didn't expect him to show up here with a plus one."

"So if Mom being sick is a lie, I guess Dad being gone was a lie too."

"My ears must be burning, cause I swear people are talking about me in here..."

There was apparently a back door somewhere behind that plywood because everyone seemed shocked to see an older man with graying blonde hair and beyond 5 o’clock scruff come leaning on through the doorway.

"Harrison, you're home early," his wife said a bit uneasily, her eyes flickering between her husband and son, "Look who decided to pay us a visit."

Flash instinctively moved to shield Ben further from his father's gaze; his body language tensed up, readying to fight. Ben could even see the edges of the Symbiote becoming agitated, wanting to bite at the edges of his clothes, to make itself known. He had never seen the blonde this defensive, this ready to fight, outside of a super villain fight.

"I can see that," the older man answered his wife, stepping fully into the room, standing erect and nearly the same height as his son, "So what have you screwed up this time boy?"


	3. Part 3

It'd been quiet for the past ten or so minutes. Flash was watching his dad, as the two of them sat on opposite ends of the two sofas.

Harrison Thompson had the potential to be a semi-decent police officer once upon a time; high school all star, went into the police academy without a second thought, married his knocked up high schooler girlfriend Rosie (who happened to be his sister's best friend at the time) before she even graduated, then on Prom Night the two were in a drunken car accident. They didn't become parents then, not for a couple of years until their son, then their daughter a few years after that. During all that time, Harrison tried, but really failed to be a good man. He drank when his job didn't progress, and he had a sharper temper when he drank. Rosie had years to get used to it; she smoked to cope with it which made her older than she should've been. Their children though, had to find other ways to cope. Jesse managed to avoid most of their father's abuse, with her extracurriculars and honors classes keeping her out of the house, while Flash only had his football. She was smart, had a bright future ahead of her, she had options; he’d never had nothing like that to protect him. So he was fair game.

That's why when S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to take him away from here, he put up no resistance. His father hadn't believed the cover story about it being a "scholarship to an advanced academic program", but he hadn't fought it either; one less mouth to feed. The last thing he'd said to his son though was _"5 bucks says you screw this up in a week and come crawling back home"_. That had been over a year ago though, but the sentiment still seemed unchanged.

Ben had managed to escape most of the silent stare off by offering to help with lunch behind the plywood curtain. The "kitchen" was mainly a microwave and a toaster over in one section behind the wall, the side with the outside door. There was another curtain wall back there, that apparently closed off another area he only hoped was a "bedroom" of some sort. All of this was really...

"Not what you expected hu?"

"What?" he let go the curtain door, where he had been sneaking a peek at what Flash and his father were doing.

Jesse leaned against the old wooden table they had in the kitchen area; she hadn't stopped eyeing the brunette since the moment he'd stepped foot in her home.

"All of this," she clarified, "Bet you're more used to living in a real house with money, huh?"

"Jesse," her mother half warned as she started another bowl of macaroni and cheese in the microwave.

She ignored the warning though, "You must if you got into that program too; they can't be handing out free passes to too many charity cases. I bet mommy and daddy pay for everything right and this is just a passing fling to rebel before you take over a Fortune 500 or whatever."

"Actually, I live with a foster family," his eyes narrowed, very offended by what she was assuming about him, "And before that, I was homeless."

"Uhhu," she didn't believe that; she knew people like him; she'd been dealing with them her whole life. Jesse hated being seen as a charity case, but even when they didn't act like they thought that way, they really did; her last boyfriend had proved that in a very hard way. "You know he's not really gay."

He wanted to talk back at that, but he bit his tongue instead.

"Here girl," her mother handed her an open beer, "Go give this to your daddy."

"Like he needs to drink more," she scoffed, but the look from her mother made her go all the same.

After a beat and the microwave going again, the older woman spoke again, "Sorry about Jesse, she means well."

"It's...alri-"

"She's right though," she was pulling out a pack of cigarettes as she spoke, "He's not like that," she fished one out then started to feel for a lighter, "Nothing against you, I'm sure you're a fine boy, but don't go making him something he's not," she found the lighter.

"With all due respect Mrs. Thompson," it was really taking a lot of his restraint to stay calm here, "But he's the one that makes that choice, not us."

"Hmm," she lit the cigarette and took a long drag, "Just keep that to yourself, alright. I don't want you upsetting Harrison."

"Don't worry," he frowned at the trail of smoke, "I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Hmmm, little too late now," she didn't intend him to hear that as she turned away and knocked her cigarette against the closest ashtray as the microwave sounded off.

He decided to duck out through the curtain, trying to put some space between himself and the smoke. The scene in the "living room" remained mostly unchanged from his last peek, except the girl was now sitting on the opposite end of the same sofa as the older man. She looked up as he entered, watching as he moved to sit beside Flash on his sofa. He wanted to touch him, to both give him strength in this situation as well as draw some for himself, but between his sister watching him, his mother's words, and just the general air about his father, Ben didn't; he instead folded a little into himself once he was seated on the falling apart couch, arms crossed, protecting himself.

The old man finished the drink he was taking when the brunette came in after he sat; he gestured with the bottle hand,

"So who's scar-face?"

Flash started to growl at that, a fist tightening, and a bit of black goo twisting almost hissing.

"He's a friend from school," Jesse cut in quickly, "Isn't that right?"

Ben nodded a little stiffly, but kept his lips sealed.

The old man huffed, "What, loose your tongue in the knife fight too?"

"No sir," he kept his tone level, "I just don't want to say something offensive in someone else's house."

"Really now," he leaned forward now, giving him a slow sizing up, "And what do you think you could say that would offend my "delicate sensibilities", huh?"

He bit his tongue again. He faced down the likes of the Lizard, Kraven the Hunter, Doc Ock, and all of HYDRA, but sitting there under the scrutiny of his boyfriend's-the father of his child's-disapproving family...this was a whole new level to compare stressful situations to. And since his normal go-to of punching his way out of stressful situations wasn’t an option, he instead had to hold himself back and bide his time.

Finally, getting no response, the old man just snorted and sat back, taking another swig of his beer, "They teach manors at that fancy school or what?"

"Back off dad," Flash growled.

"Ah, the boy speaks at last, and that's all you gotta say?"

"Well what do you want me to say," he hissed, sitting forward, leaning in with a little intensity, "Seems you say it all."

"Watch your mouth boy, wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of "company"."

Flash was coiled tight, near ready to burst; everyone could see it.

"Easy Flash," Ben tried to discreetly touch the blonde's leg, trying to calm him down.

Jesse spotted the movement, and despite her objections she still moved to distract her father from catching it too. "Do you need another beer Dad?" she stood up, getting into his main line of sight.

Her standing triggered Flash to getting up though, his defensive training and protective instinct really taking over.

"Naw princess, but looks like your brother does. You and your friend want one Eugene?"

"That's sort of against the law you know."

"Pft, I'm not on the job. Haven't been for 7 years, you know that. Use that brain you seem to have."

"This was a mistake, I shouldn't have come here."

"First smart thing you've said in a long while. What are you even doing here, hu? You couldn't have hightailed it outta here any faster could you, so what are you even doing here?"

"I came here because I thought you guys needed my help."

"Oh right," he growled, getting up, "High and mighty Eugene, just has to come waltzing back in to save the day like the costumed freaks he idolizes."

His anger flashed again, the Symbiote was very clearly agitated under his shirt. Ben was up now, trying to pacify the sentient shadow, lightly touching his back.

"Calm down..."

"That's all you're ever good for, isn't it," the old man kept going on, "Just rushing in, never using your head. Do you ever have an original thought?"

"Shut up," he finally snapped, tearing away from his boyfriend, "Just shut up!"

"Don't you talk to your father that way boy!"

"Well why not, its how you talk. You go shooting your mouth off about things you don't even have the first clue about. Then when anyone challenges your narrow world view, you strike out violently. And I am sick of that!"

The yelling had gotten to the point that Rosie had come out from hiding in the other "room", though she remained half hidden by the curtain door.

"So that's what this so called school of yours teaches you, hu. How to disrespect your elders?"

"How can you disrespect something you never respected in the first place?"

"How dare you speak to your father like that," the older woman finally came all the way into the room now.

"How dare I? How dare you, Mom. You act like he's a saint, even after he hits you, even after he beat me. That's not how things are supposed to be!"

"You, I..."

"Don't go yelling at your mother," the old man growled, "You're not nearly too big enough for me to teach you how things are supposed to be boy, you understand that."

"I'm not a kid anymore, don't go underestimating me."

"Mighty big talk for such a useless little punk."

"Harrison..."

"Flash..."

Neither backed down despite the plea in their significant other's voices.

"I'm not the useless one here. If you had even half an idea of what I do, what we do for everyone."

"Flash, don't-"

"Oh like you could ever do anything worthwhile. You're no better than me boy."

"No, I'm going to be better than you. I'm gonna make something of my life, and I'm never gonna screw up my kid the way you screwed up me."

"Your what now?"

The girls looked towards Ben, quite confused by that. The brunette reflexively moved to cover his middle at that, which only triggered an even more protective reaction from the blonde.

"Oh thank god he's really a girl."

"Mom," Jesse hissed in warning, but it was too late.

"Am I missing something here?"

"No Dad, you're as on board as you usually are," Flash growled, "C'mon Ben."

The blonde held his hand back to the brunette, yet didn't take his focus off his father. Ben took it, and then followed as Flash led him out. That's when it finally clicked for Harrison, but Rosie was already in between her husband and exiting son, giving the pair enough time and room to get out of there.


	4. Part 4

His phone went off for the third time since he’d headed out that morning. Today was Miles day off (if you could even say that) from S.H.I.E.L.D., but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be put to work. His mother had sent him out with a list of things to pick up so she could get busy preparing a few things to take to the Parker's’ later for this holiday dinner thing. Not to downplay it though; Miles was so thankful that May was as welcoming to his mom as she’d been to him when he got stranded in this dimension. Rio was thankful too; that’s why she was trying to micromanage what she could, so as not to disappoint her new family. Which was all well and good, except that she kept sending him list additions every 5 minutes it seemed. 

He’d decided that swinging through the city would be faster than trying to walk the streets with the crazy snow-raged traffic. But as the latest text update came, he swung over to the nearest fire escape so he could safely pull the phone from his jacket pocket (not to worry though, because he knew better than to go swinging without his mask, he did have that on).

“How would I know if anyone has peanut allergies?” he asked aloud before texting back what he said, “No idea, I just know fish is bad for Ben…and send.”

He tucked the phone back into his pocket and intended to continue on his shopping quest when he heard a yell from the next street.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me,” he sighed, “Sorry Mom, gonna take a bit longer.”

He switched his goal now from the store to the next street over. “Day-off” or not, when you wear the mask, you’re always on call.  
\---  
Flash just kept walking down the street, moving at a fast pace to get away from that place. Ben did his best to keep up, only being dragged along slightly. He didn't speak up at first, knowing his boyfriend was still agitated from the interactions with his family, but after they passed the third street past the bus stop they got off at, he had to speak up,

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know," he huffed, "I'm an idiot remember, I don't have all the answers."

"Flash, don't."

"Don't what?" he stopped now, letting go of his hand, "Don't let what he said get to me? Don't shut out my family? Don't shut you out? Don't be such an idiot?? I've heard it all before."

"Flash, no..."

"Betty did the exact same thing, and then she bailed."

He decided not to address the ex-girlfriend part for now..."I'm not bailing on you Flash-"

"No, of course not, because you're stuck with me. You just now get to see just how screwed you are because you got stuck with such a looser, that comes from a family of losers, that will probably just end up making your kid a looser."

"Ok, no. You stop that now, right now."

"Stop what, I'm being serious. Can you honestly say, after seeing all that that you'd still stay with me if we weren't having a baby."

"You know my history, and you're not even the pregnant one."

"That's different; you didn't get a choice when it came to Ock."

"No one picks the family they're born into."

The blonde backed down a bit at that, looking away, rubbing the back of his head as he mumbled. The brunette knew he had the upper hand now, so he chanced a step forward.

"Flash, please. I thought we agreed to not worry about the past. This relationship was about moving forward, the two of us together."

"That's when I didn't think you'd end up meeting my family."

"Seriously? You thought I'd never meet your family? That you'd never have to show your parents their grandchild?"

"No."

"Flash."

"Yeah, stupid here remember," he looked away, running a hand through his hair, "My dad, he just...he ruins everything he touches ok, and nothing I do is ever good enough. But it's like, you know, I'm a superhero now. I save the city and the world on a daily basis. That's like the total opposite of a looser."

"I know that."

"But I can't tell him that, and even if I could, he probably wouldn't get it. Like you," he looked back to him now, "You are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Better than getting powers, better then making friends with Spidey, better than winning homecoming. But my family, they won't get it-they didn't get it. And I know I've already done more than enough to screw us up, I don't them to add onto that mess, cause I..."

While the blonde was rambling on, the brunette slipped up closer to him. It was Ben slipping his hands into Flash's as he pressed against him that made his words trail off. He looked down to the slightly shorter teen.

"You're the best thing that's happened to me too."

"Even though I knocked you up."

"Yeah," he gave his hands a reassuring squeeze, "And nothing anyone can say will change that. You're not a looser Flash, I wouldn't even waste a minute of my time if you were."

"Heh, that's true."

"So quit being such a punk."

"And here I thought you liked that about me."

They exchanged smirks at that, before Flash pulled him in close and they then instead shared a kiss. But that was good; Ben could tell that Flash was feeling better, not still 100%, but that was something he could work with.

As they stood there kissing, a car slowly pulled up along side them. They broke apart, the blonde automatically positioning himself between this foreigner and the brunette. The car window came down, revealing who the driver was.

"Jesse, what're you doing here?"

"Looks like you need a ride," she reached over and pushed the passenger side door open, "The both of you."  
\---  
“Ok, I know the French as weird and all, but seriously Batroc-”

The purple clad thief had led quite the chase from Van Dyne’s for the two spiders. Less crowded spaces were easier for the leaper to navigate as well, so that made their job even easier. He expected the red and blue spider to come at him from behind, tossing back quips; that left him completely open to the black and red spider to cut him from the front with a foot squarely to the back of his head. Batroc missed his step and went flying to the left, his bag of stolen goods dropping and falling to the right. He crashed unceremoniously into a pile of trash bags that over flowed from the cans behind some Eastern restaurant.

“This is beyond kinky man,” Jay continued, picking up the bag of stolen goods and pulling out a red lacy number, “I don’t even think this is your size.”

The Frenchman was still in a daze in his pile of garbage, day-old noodles dripping down his head. Peter visibly shivered at her comment though.

“Don’t go putting that imagery in my head. Can’t you just assume he was stealing it for his girlfriend or something?”

“You really want to imagine the girl that would date that?” she huffed back, shoving it back in the sack before tossing it over her shoulder.

“Ok that is a bit worse,” he was crouched to cuff their prisoner now.

Miles decided to drop down at that moment now. Jay turned, looking over the shoulder the bag was not draped over.

“Casual Friday at the office?”

“I’m out running errands, give me a break,” the smaller spider defended, “Thought I heard someone needing my help, but looks like you two got it under control.”

“We do, but thanks,” Peter stood up now, finally getting a look at the younger spider, “Isn’t it your day-off?”

“Again, running errands, heard a scream, came to help. I am responsible, unlike some people.”

If she hadn’t been wearing a mask, there was no doubt that Jay would’ve stuck her tongue out at him for that remark. Instead he huffed, readjusting her hold on the sack, “So we just gonna chat or you gonna call this in for clean up?”

“Right, right. We’re good here Kid, you can get going.”

Miles nodded. “Thanks, see you guys later.”

With that, he swung up and away. Peter came back over to stand with Jay as he called in for a S.H.I.E.L.D. retrieval on his com.

“So what’s the ETA?”

“5 minutes,” he looked in the direction Miles had left, then back to her, “Do you ever play nice with anyone Widow?”

“What, it’s not like I’ve tried to kill anyone…recently.”

Sometimes Peter tried to remember what it was like before he got all these clone-siblings, and the more time that passes, the harder it is to do that. Right now, he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing…

“So…are we off the clock after this or…what?”

“Yeah probably. Aunt May will probably need us to help with stuff.”

“Provided Larry, Moe, and Curly haven’t killed each other you mean.”

“They’re…getting better.”

“You know they’re chomping at the bit to get out here like me. So why not just give me my driver’s license here and let them join your Driver’s Ed Class teach?”

“Nice try Widow, but Fury makes the rules.”

“You suck.”

“ _Mon dieu_ , would you tow just kiss and shut up already.”

The two heroes looked to the tied up villain, their masks hiding the looks of horror and disgust at that comment.

“Please let me knock him out for that.”

“Typically I’d say no, because we’re trying to break you of your excessive force habit, but I’ll make an exception this time.”

She handed him the sack and stepped over to the man still sitting in the trash pile. Batroc looked up, a little worried now as he swallowed hard,

“Was it something I said?”


	5. Part 5

The ride back to the Parker house was a quiet one. Ben sat in the back, leaving the Thompson siblings in the front on the off chance they wanted to talk. They didn't though. Flash spent the whole drive stiffly watching the outside pass by, while Jesse stayed focused on the driving. The only conversation was to correct their direction.

The car eventually pulled up in front of the house, thankfully all shoveled out. The engine turned off; seemed like the girl wasn't planning to just drop them off quickly.

"Go on without me, I'll be right there," Flash looked to his boyfriend in the backseat via the rear view mirror.

Ben nodded, moving to open the door. "It was interesting meeting you Jesse."

"Yeah," was the only response she gave.

The brunette exited the car and walked up the walkway towards the house. He didn't go in just yet though; he instead stayed on the porch, watching the pair in the car. They didn't notice or care.

"So what do you want Jesse? You text me, make me come down, screw my whole day up, and insult my boyfriend. So what do you want?"

"Same thing as any other time I've texted you, I just wanted to have my brother back," she finally turned to look at him, "What happened to you Flash? I mean yeah, you used to be this agro-macho jock, but you...you weren't..."

"Gay? Bi?" he cut her off, "Jesse, you know I used to have those dreams..."

"I was gonna say a coward," now she cut him off, "You just ran away from us, from Mom and me, and you never looked back once."

"Can you blame me? You know what Dad's like. I had an out, so yeah I had to take it."

"And Mom? Me? You never felt guilty about abandoning us?"

"I...of course I do," he slid a little down in his seat, running his hand through his hair, "That's why I came this time you know, cause you said you two needed me."

"And you just want to play hero."

He shot her a sharp angry look at that; she looked away quickly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean..,"

"Yeah, you did," he huffed, sitting back up correctly, "You gotta get out of there Jesse."

"Two more years and then I get to work my way through college at a fast food restaurant."

"I'll see what I can do about that. I gotta be getting paid or something..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Uhhu..." she raised a brow at that, but let it slide, knowing how off topic her brother's train of thought could go, "In any case, you'll need whatever money you get for that," she half nodded towards where the brunette had gone.

"His name is Ben."

"And he's pregnant?"

"Yeah, he's like trans ok, but that doesn't make him less a guy."

"I think part of Mom's reaction to that was the whole "don't make the same mistakes I did" coupled with your coming out."

"Yeah, I guess that could've been done better...I didn't exactly plan to bring him along, he just came."

"You were going to hide us from him too, hu?"

"Ben and me...we haven't exactly had the best start of things, ok. He's got his issues, I just figured he wouldn't want mine."

"I'm pretty sure that's what relationships are for."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he sighed, resting his cheek in his palm, "Just don't want to screw this up."

"You're really into him, huh?"

He gave her a look, "Duh. Even if we weren't having a baby, Ben would still be the one I'd be with. He gets me, 100%. I don't have to be anything other than me. Course, now he knows what a looser I am, so thanks for that."

"Flash, if he cares about you half as much as you care about him, I'm sure meeting Dad didn't ruin your street cred with him."

He smirked, "Yeah, I am pretty great...but he's better."

"Then I guess next time we meet, I should try to be a bit more open minded and get to know him huh?"

He looked back to her a little quizzically.

"I mean, if there is a next time. You seem like you don't want anything to do with us, so..."

"Hey," he reached over to grasp her hand, "You're still my little sister, I'm still gonna have your back if you need me. I promise I'll be better about staying in touch."

"Yeah, ok," she looked away, drawing her hand back, "I gotta head back, Mom'll probably need me, and you shouldn't leave your friend out in the cold."

He looked back to see Ben still on the porch, then looked back to Jesse. "You wanna stay for dinner? May won't care, I'm sure...pretty sure...well you can have mine if it's a big deal."

"I...thanks Flash, but pass. Like you said, I've screwed your day up enough. Go have fun."

"Thanks Jesse. And like I said, you need me..."

"I'll call. Now get out of my car, and go get your boy."

He cracked a grin at that, but complied all the same. As he wound his way up the shoveled path, she started up the car and drove off. He came up the stairs, up to the brunette.

"You know its cold out here, you could've gone inside."

"It's not that cold. You ok?"

"Yeah," he took his hand, pulling it up to his lips for a quick little kiss, "I'm great."

Ben rolled his eyes at the cheesy romantic gesture.

"Still sorry about today."

"In fairness, you did tell me to stay here."

"Still."

"Flash, just shut up and kiss me before we go in."

He grinned, "I think I can do that."

He leaned down closer to do just that about two beats before the door opened. They kept it going though, leaving the brunette girl to slouch against the frame with her arms crossed.

"Really guys, really? It's cold out here."

Ben rolled his eyes at her for that comment, "Yes Jay, really."

"Tsh, you're so gay."

“Said the kettle to the pot!” someone called from behind her, inside.

He rolled his eyes again, but just pushed past her to get into the house, dragging his boyfriend along with him. The blonde shot the girl a grin as he passed her; her eye roll at that was nearly identical to Ben's.

"Hey look who finally decided to show up," Spike spoke up from his seat on the couch.

All the teenagers seemed to be playing cards in the living room, split between sitting on the couch and the floor around the coffee table.

"Good job rearranging the living room," Ben came over, managing to slide onto the couch after Neil moved without a word.

"Oh haha," the smaller spider shot sarcastically as he was forced to shift his seat.

Miles shot Ben a wink, having called the comment out; he just shook his head a little at the young spider’s antics.

"So what we playing?" Flash now took up a seat on the floor, sitting virtually at his boyfriend's feet.

"Uno," David answered first, earning a surprised look from Peter who was the closest to him, seeing as that was the first thing the giant spider had said since he’d gotten home.

"Yeah they were too chicken to do strip poker," Jay now returned to her seat on the floor, reaching for the deck.

"Yeah, no, wasn't funny the first time," Peter commented.

"Tsch, yeah it was," she grinned, "So how many am I dealing in?"

After a minor show of hands, the girl started dealing out cards. At this point though, with eight people playing, it made the deck thinner. But the group of teenagers seemed to be having a good time with it. Soon their laughter and quip slinging was drifting back through to the kitchen.

"Sounds like the kids are having a good time in there," Rio looked towards the doorway, "It's so nice to see Miles just being a normal teenager with his friends for once."

"I know what you mean," May pulled out the last dish from the oven.

"I still don't know how you manage so many at once. I have enough trouble with only my one."

"Well I admit, sometimes it's like herding cats," she chuckled, tossing a dish towel over her shoulder, "But they're good kids, and I trust them. Peter, Ben, Flash, and even Miles, all have a pretty good handle on what they're doing. The other four know to go to them or me if they need help."

"So you don't worry?"

"Of course I worry. The worry never goes away. But like I said, I trust them. Now let's get this food out there before they start eating each other."

Rio chuckled at that, but agreed all the same; she knew well how teenagers got when they were hungry. She’d grown up with a larger extended family, so she was used to large family gatherings like this. But now that she and her son were in a completely new dimension, she wasn’t really sure where that left them; S.H.I.E.L.D. had advised her against looking for her family members here-or even her deceased husband Jefferson-so having May Parker open her home and her life up to them was more than she could ever have asked for. This was the family she had always wanted for Miles, and the fact that he had found it all on his own, even in the most unconventional of ways, made it all the better.

It took about 5 minutes to set the whole table with the mixture of ethnic foods the two women had spent the last several hours cooking and getting ready both separately and together. At one point May called into the living room for some help, and without a second thought Spike, Peter, and Miles had gotten up to help them. The rest of the troop only got through about half of another hand of cards before it was announced that dinner was served.

It was still a bit of a mystery how they could fit 10 people (11 if you counted David as two due to his size) around the table, but they managed it somehow. As everyone finished settling in, May stood up, making all eyes go to her.

“Ok, I promise I’ll make this speech short, because we all know that everyone’s really here for the free food.”

That earned a quiet little chuckle.

“But really, I want to thank you all for getting together tonight to do this. After the year we’ve all had, from the crime fighting…”

Peter nodded.

“…To the interdimensional hopping…”

Miles reached to grasp his mom’s hand with a soft little squeeze, which she returned with a warming smile.

“…To the house being destroyed-again…”

Ben looked down a bit at that, which made Flash slip his hand over to his knee for reassurance.

“To just the over all general craziness that is life, quiet moments like this are rare, and they are special. And I can’t think of the people I would want to share them with the most.”

She looked around the table, her words directed at each of them individually as well as a whole,

“We are a family. It doesn’t matter how you got here, or where you came from, what matters at the end of the day is who you come home to. Because home is where the heart is, home is where you find your family.”

The clones all exchanged a look among the four of them, letting that soak in.

“So to Rio and Miles, I welcome you into this family, as crazy as it seems. And to the rest of you, as far as I’m concerned you’re all my children, and I want you to know that I’m always here for you, no matter what. No super villain could ever keep me away from you, right Peter?”

He chuckled, “I think we all know you’re a force to be reckoned with Aunt May.”

“You got that right,” she chuckled, “So here’s to family at the holidays.”

Everybody cheered to that, and then food was officially served. 

Before Flash could pull his hand off of Ben’s knee though, the other caught it. The blonde looked away from the rolls (and missed his chance to take any as it was passed away from him) to look at the brunette at that.

“You ok babe?”

“Yeah, I just, you know,” he mumbled a little, never really being one for the mushy romantic stuff even when it felt right.

He smiled and squeezed his hand, knowing well what he meant. “Yeah, I do. You too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Happy Holidays from the Spider-Family of KPen’s “Children of Kaine Saga”_


End file.
